Statement by Ms. Virginia Gamba
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict
“Protecting Children Today Prevents Conflict Tomorrow”

New York, 27 June 2018 – The number of children affected by armed conflict and the severity of grave violations affecting them increased in the past year, concludes the annual report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict released today.

Again this year, the Global Coalition’s report “Education Under Attack” is an urgent call to do more to protect schools, educators and students from violence and threats. Thank you for producing this report that is making our common advocacy stronger and more impactful.

I would also like to thank the Permanent Representatives or Norway, Qatar and Argentina. Your commitment to advance the protection of schools is leading to important progress.

New York, 5 October 2017 – Boys and girls living in countries affected by armed conflict have been victims of widespread violations in 2016, as documented in the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict released today and covering the period from January to December 2016.

Statement by Ms. Leila ZerrouguiSpecial Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed ConflictGeneva, 7 March 2017

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Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates,

Dear colleagues, Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be here with Ms. Santos Pais for my sixth interactive dialogue. This will be the final time I address the Council. I would like to take this opportunity to say that it has been a pleasure working with you all.

The senior United Nations advocate for children caught up in conflict is reaching out to parents, elders, and the entire international community to keep children away from armies and militias – a UN role that over the past two decades has helped more than 115,000 child soldiers regain their youth.

“My role is to reach them, to try to convince them that they are the ones who can make a difference on the ground,” the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, told UN News on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of her office’s mandate.

New York – In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict highlighted the progress accomplished since the creation of her mandate twenty years ago, but also urged Member States and parties to conflict to take immediate action to end persistent grave violations against children.

New York – Increasingly complex and widening conflicts have taken a huge toll on children in much of the Middle East in 2015, with parts of Africa and Asia facing protracted and relapsing wars that show no signs of abating, wrote Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, in her annual report to the Human Rights Council. The Report covers the period from December 2014 to December 2015.

New York – As we mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers, tens of thousands of boys and girls are associated with armed forces and groups in conflicts in over 20 countries around the world.

“Again this year, the multiplication of conflicts and the brutality of tactics of war have made children extremely vulnerable to recruitment and use,” said Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

By Leila Zerrougui, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict

One year ago, representatives of the last eight governments of the world named by the UN Secretary-General for the recruitment and use of children in their security forces gathered at the United Nations in New York to declare they were ready to take the steps necessary to make their security forces child-free.

Children are increasingly vulnerable to recruitment and use by armed groups as conflicts around the world become more brutal, intense and widespread, UNICEF and the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said today to mark the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers.

Ten years ago, on 22 April 2004, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1539, which called on all parties listed for recruitment and use of children in the annexes of the Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict to “prepare […] concrete, time-bound action plans to halt recruitment and use of children […], in close collaboration with United Nations peacekeeping missions and United Nations country teams”.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Leila Zerrougui, highlighted the dire situation of children affected by armed conflict and the need for more action to protect them during an update on her mandate and ongoing work to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Parties to conflict must do more and can do more to minimize killing and maiming of children in the conduct of military operations,” said the Special Representative. “International treaties banning cluster munitions and chemical weapons must be respected.”

New York, 11 June - The Secretary-General issued his annual report on children and armed conflict to the Security Council which gives an overview of the situation of girls and boys in conflict zones and measures taken for their protection. The report includes a list of parties who recruit and use children, kill and maim, commit sexual violence or attack schools and hospitals; the so-called “list of shame.”